Zakiya Sankara-Jabar is a leading figure in the movement for educational justice in the United States by advocating for students and empowering parents. Zakiya’s tenacious spirit, insatiable curiosity and organizing acumen have elevated her from Ohio’s leading voice eradicating educational inequities to a national leading voice equipping Black parents with tools to drive sustainable change on a local level. Zakiya came to organizing, advocacy, and policy work organically as a parent shining a light on harmful school discipline policies that disproportionately impact Black students and their families in Ohio and now has worked in communities of all sizes across the country sharing tools, strategies and her story for working class parents. She combined both her personal story, professional skills and network to found and lead Racial Justice NOW!, an organization that exists to transform communities through organizing, advocacy and systemic policy change.

Currently Co-founder and Co-Executive Director at Racial Justice NOW, Zakiya was named to the inaugural #Power50 Leadership Fellowship for women of color with Community Change, formerly The Center for Community Change. She has received many national recognitions and her work has been featured in the HBO series, Problem Areas and TruTV’s Adam Ruins Everything. When not organizing parents or advocating for students, you will find Zakiya on conference stages across North America equipping audiences with her strategic frameworks for change. Outside work Zakiya enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband and two children.

Project: School Discipline Report Cards for Alabama, Maryland & Ohio

Sankara-Jabar is reviving and expanding her ambitious disciplinary school report card project. Her organization, Racial Justice NOW! (RJN!), pioneered the report card methodology to assess and grade the disciplinary practices of over 1,000 school entities across Ohio. This data became foundational to RJN!’s advocacy and organizing work, including the passage of a 2018 law that strictly limited suspensions and expulsions for preschool to third-grade students in public and charter schools in Ohio, garnering national media attention. The practice of “grading” schools has since been adopted by many educational justice organizations and will expand to Alabama and Maryland during the Fellowship. Sankara-Jabar and her team continue to support their partners in using this effective tool to highlight racist disciplinary practices targeting Black youth, particularly Black boys, across the country.